


Hey, Jude

by romeokijai



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: Babysitter!Bass, Babysitting, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Kid!Charlie, Music, One Shot, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 04:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2922455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romeokijai/pseuds/romeokijai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bass gets roped into babysitting Charlotte. One-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hey, Jude

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a tiny little scene in my other Charloe fic that I'm currently working on, but then I decided it didn't fit. However, I didn't want the cuteness to go to waste, so I just expanded it a little and decided to post it as a one-shot. It's pure fluff! Hope you enjoy. And please do leave a review! :)

“You’re not Uncle Miles….”

Bass momentarily averts his gaze from the Yankees vs. Mets game on TV and glances at the staircase behind him.

Five-year-old Charlotte Matheson stands there, one hand on the railing and the other defiantly placed on her tiny hip. Her little face is puckered up in sour disappointment.

“Hey, kid.” Bass smirks. “Your Uncle Miles had to leave for a bit. How was your nap?” But before she can answer, he turns his attention back to the TV.

He’s not really sure how he even ended up on babysitting duty for the Mathesons; this was supposed to be Miles's responsibility tonight, but alas, here he is.

He hears Charlotte's tentative footsteps as she descends the stairs and cautiously approaches the couch, where he is sitting. For quite a while, she maintains a safe distance while curiously studying his face. She’s trying to figure him out, he supposes – to determine whether or not he’s someone she can trust. He pays her little heed and continues to stare at the TV.

“Where’s Uncle Miles?” She finally asks, slowly inching closer.

“He had to go out for a bit.” Bass’s eyes don’t leave the screen.

“Oh…. When’s he gonna come back?”

“Not sure."

"Where's my mom and dad?"

"They're out, too. So for now, you get to hang out with me.” This time, Bass smiles at her. She doesn’t smile back.

After continued staring and the apparent conclusion that Bass is no threat, she tries to climb up onto the couch, but her short limbs don’t exactly work in her favor. Bass chuckles and helps her up. He’s a bit surprised when she scoots herself close to him and then cranes her neck to peer up at him.

He raises his eyebrows and glances down at her. “What?”

“What’s your name?” She curiously blinks at him.

“Bass.”

Her button nose instantly scrunches up into a scowl. “That’s a dumb name.”

Bass rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well, Charlie’s a dumb name for a girl.” He gently pokes her in her side, and she giggles.

“Hey!” She swats his hand away. “How come you know my name?”

He shrugs. “‘Cause. We’ve met before.”

“No, we haven’t.”

“Yes, we have.”

“Nuh-uh. I woulda ‘membered.”

He sighs. “You don’t remember, Charlotte, because when we first met, you were just a baby.”

She stares and blinks some more, clearly trying to process his revelation.

“Grandpa Gene calls me that,” she finally informs him while reaching for the side pocket zipper on his leather jacket. She zips the pocket open, then closed, then open again. “Like Grandma.”

“Huh?” Bass is confused and only partially pays attention to her childish babbling while the Mets hit a home run against the Yankees.

“Charlotte,” Charlie says. “That’s my real name, and that’s Grandma’s name, too.”

“Oh…yeah, I knew that.”

She places her tiny hand on his jean-clad thigh and pushes herself up to get a better look at his face. “How come you know so much?”

“How come _you_ ask so many questions?”

“I’d’know.” She shrugs and slumps down beside him.

He can’t help but smile. Charlie reminds him a lot of his own sisters.

“So why’s your name Bass?” She questions.

“Geez, Charlotte, I don’t know. It just is, okay?”

She frowns, unimpressed with his answer.

He groans under his breath. _What’s a guy gotta do to watch a baseball game in peace?_ He finally decides it’s not even worth trying and switches off the television. Then he turns to her. “Actually, my real name’s Sebastian.”

That causes her face to light right up, blue eyes twinkling with sudden recognition. “Like the crab?”

Bass snorts. She’s obviously referencing _The Little Mermaid_.

“Yeah, like that, I guess.”  

She’s absolutely giddy now. “Sebastian’s my favorite! You wanna know, why?”

He realizes she’s going to tell him whether he wants to know or not. “Why?”

“Because he’s red, and he makes music. But mostly ‘cause he’s red, and red’s my most favoritest color.”

“Favorite,” Bass corrects her. “Your most favorite color.”

“No, it’s my _most_ _favoritest_.”

“There’s no such thing as a _favoritest_ color. Or a _favoritest_ anything.” He teasingly rubs the top of her head, messing up her soft, blonde locks. “Favoritest isn’t a real word.”

Charlie pushes his hand away. Her eyebrows furrow for a moment, but then she sighs and continues. “What’s your favorite color?”

“Uh…green.” He gives her an amused smirk.

“Ew.” She grimaces. “I don’t like green.”

Bass shakes his head. _Who’s going to argue with a kid about colors?_ Certainly not him. “So…you like music?” He changes the subject.

“I love it!” Her scowl fades instantly, and her already bright eyes begin to sparkle even brighter.

The next thing Bass knows, Charlie’s hands are planted on his shoulders, and she’s climbing into his lap.

“One time, Uncle Miles came over and played ‘ _Hey Jude’_ on Daddy’s old guitar. Do you know that song? I know all the words. Well…not _all_ the words because sometimes I forget. But most of them….”

A huge, genuine smile erupts across his lips, and he nods along to her unremitting rambling. She’s absolutely adorable, and he decides that him getting roped into babysitting for the Mathesons at the last minute isn’t really the worst thing after all.

Then he has an idea. “Charlotte, did you say your dad has a guitar?”

“Uh huh!” She nods furiously and wiggles on his lap.

He chuckles at her girlish excitement. “Do you know where he keeps it?”

“It’s upstairs. You wanna see it?”

“Yeah, I’ll play you some songs, if you want.”

“Oh! Yes! Please, please, please! Here, come with me. I’ll show you it.” Charlie slides off his lap and begins tugging at his jacket sleeve. “C’mon!”

She drags him up to the family bonus room, where they find Ben’s old guitar – a standard Fender Dreadnought that obviously hasn’t been touched in years, which means Bass has to spend more than a few minutes tuning it.

As he focuses his attention on the A-string, he looks up and notices the annoyed pout on Charlie’s face.

“What?” He asks.

She crosses her arms and sulks at him. “I thought you said you knew how to play?”

He tries not to roll his eyes but is unable to contain his smirk. _This kid and her sassy questions_. “Yeah, but I have to tune it first.”

Charlie’s expression is one of deep curiosity. “How come?”

“Because. You see these?” He points to the strings. “The strings get…well, tired…if you don’t use them enough.”

“They do?”

“Yeah,” he explains. “It’s sort of like…when you go to sleep and don’t talk the whole night. And then when you wake up, your voice is a little bit scratchy at first because you haven’t talked at all in a long time. So it takes a while before your voice really wakes up and starts to sound normal again.”

Charlie uncrosses her arms and offers him a thoughtful nod. “Ok. You can finish waking the strings up now.”

“Thanks, kid,” Bass laughs and returns to the task at hand.

Once he’s done tuning, he quickly plays a few chord progressions to acquaint himself with the instrument. He hasn’t touched a guitar in years, but it feels great to have one in his hands again.

“Play me a song!” Charlie demands impatiently.

“Alright, alright,” he sighs, still smirking. “What do you wanna hear?”

Charlie shrugs. “I’d’know.”

Bass racks his brain, trying to think of all the kid songs he knows – or at least ones he thinks he can figure out on the spot. Then a knowing smile forms on his lips, and he begins to strum and sing softly.

“ _There you see her, sitting there across the way…she don’t got a lot to say, but there’s something about her…_.”

Charlie’s eyes instantly glitter with excitement, and by the time Bass gets to the chorus and the _sha-la-la_ s of one of her all-time favorite Disney songs, she is enthusiastically singing along without missing a single beat.

As soon as Bass finishes the song and puts the guitar aside, Charlie throws her arms around his neck and smacks a kiss against his scruffy cheek, causing him to laugh warmly.

“Thank you, Sebastian.” She grins at him.

Bass taps her on the nose. “You’re welcome, Charlotte.”

“Can you play some more?”

He smiles. “Sure. I'll play you one more. But then you have to wash up and get ready for dinner, okay?”

"Okay." She offers him a toothy grin.

Bass picks up the guitar again and situates it on his lap while Charlie settles in next to him on the couch. He gives her a wink and starts to sing.

“ _Hey Jude…_.”

* * *

 

**THE END**


End file.
